The spatial structure of transnational human activity |
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| Affiliation: | 1. INSEEC Business Schools, 25 rue de l′Université, 69007 Lyon, France;2. École des Mines de Saint-Étienne, LIMOS UMR CNRS 6158, 158 cours Fauriel, 42023 Saint-Étienne Cedex 2, France;3. École des Mines de Nantes, IRCCYN, UMR CNRS 6597, La Chantrerie, 4, rue Alfred Kastler - B.P. 20722, F-44307 Nantes Cedex 3, France;4. University of Lorraine, Ile de Saulcy, 57045 Metz, France;1. POEMS, UMR 7231 CNRS-INRIA-ENSTA, Palaiseau, France;2. INRIA/CMAP, École Polytechnique, Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France;1. Walter Schottky Institut and Physics Department, Am Coulombwall 4a, Technical University Munich, D-85748, Garching, Germany;2. Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Schellingstr. 4, 80799, München, Germany;3. Center for Nanoscience and Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539, München, Germany;4. Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, University of Regensburg, D-93040, Regensburg, Germany;5. Solid State Physics Laboratory, ETH Zurich, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland;1. University of Tunis, LaTICE-ESSTT, Tunisia;2. University Toulouse III, LAPLACE-UPS, France |
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| Abstract: | Starting from conflictive predictions of hitherto disconnected debates in the natural and social sciences, this article examines the spatial structure of transnational human activity (THA) worldwide (a) across eight types of mobility and communication and (b) in its development over time. It is shown that the spatial structure of THA is similar to that of animal displacements and local-scale human motion in that it can be approximated by Lévy flights with heavy tails that obey power laws. Scaling exponent and power-law fit differ by type of THA, being highest in refuge-seeking and tourism and lowest in student exchange. Variance in the availability of resources and opportunities for satisfying associated needs appears to explain these differences. Over time (1960–2010), the Lévy-flight pattern remains intact and remarkably stable, contradicting the popular notion that socio-technological trends lead to a “death of distance.” Humans have not become more “global” over time, they rather became more mobile in general, i.e. they move and communicate more at all distances. Hence, it would be more adequate to speak of “mobilization” than of “globalization.” Longitudinal change occurs only in some types of THA and predominantly at short distances, indicating regional rather than global shifts. |
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| Keywords: | Transnationalism Mobility Lévy flight Power law Death of distance Globalization |
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